I have both the Barclay's Aviator card (with a sizable credit limit) and the Citi Platinum Select card (about half the credit limit of the Barclays), both tied to my AA account.

I'd like to cancel one of them, probably don't need both. Any advice on which card offers any notable benefits that the other doesn't?

I've had the Barclay's acct much longer, going back to about 2000, and the Citi card for about 5 years.

I understand the implications to my credit report of cancelling either, but was more interested in which card offers better AA benefits - or are they basically the same?


Any advice please! Thanks

Speaking strictly from a credit report perspective, cancelling the Citibank card would make more sense. If you cancel the Barclay's card, you will have a reduction in available credit (meaning the impact of any unpaid balances will increase as a % of credit utilized) and the your account history length would also take a hit.

I recommend keeping the Barclay's card due to the longer credit history and larger credit limit. You can downgrade the Citi Platinum AA Mastercard to a no annual fee Citi AA Gold Mastercard (https://creditcards.aa.com/citi-gold...es-cardmember/), or convert to a Citi Custom Cash card (I've done this with my Citi Platinum Mastercard in the past), if you prefer to keep the account history and credit limit, but just want to get rid of the annual fee.

More unused credit is always a good thing. But maybe the OP is at a stage in life that they don't anticipate needing to apply for credit, in which case it wouldn't matter.

How often would you use either card at restaurants or gas stations?

"Double miles at restaurants and gas stations

"Earn 2 AAdvantage� miles for each $1 spent on purchases at restaurants (including cafes, bars, lounges, and fast food restaurants) and at gas stations. Food and beverage purchases made at the American Airlines Admirals Club� will be awarded 2 AAdvantage miles for each $1 spent as part of the Double Miles on American Airlines purchases benefit."

Source: https://creditcards.aa.com/citi-plat...es-cardmember/

I would not cancel a card if you have had it for over 20 years. It sounds like you have two cards with an AF and identical benefits and you want to consolidate. Both Citi and Barclays have fee free AA cards you just need to call and request a product change. Then, you would want to use the card ever 6 months to keep it open. As others have mentioned, Citi offers more product change flexibility - like the custom cash card.

Still, I would wait until the time of the annual fee, and then ask if they have a retention offer to keep you around, this may be a good option to generate more miles or a statement credit an then you product change one of them next year.

I find the Citicard offers more bonus LP promos. Over the summer they had a 2500 point promo for internet purchases and 3500 LP promo for Paypal purchases. I never get a Barclays promotion.

A related question: I recently got a Citi AA Platinum Select card, which has an annual fee. A phone agent said that I can convert it to another card - in this case, a Citi MileUp card with no annual fee.

The question is, if I do that conversion, will I keep the same card number and the associated virtual card numbers? The agent said sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't, but she doesn't know why.

To do a conversion, I'd have to hold it for at least a year, which would mean an annual fee. But if I convert within 37 days after the fee is charged, it will be credited back.

It probably makes more sense to get a new MileUp card, with 10,000 mile and $50 credit bonuses, and change all the automatic payments from the old card number.

I converted my Citi AA Platinum to a Mileup card a couple years ago but I did not bother to check if the account numbers remained the same. The main benefit you get from converting is that your credit history from the account carries over, as length of account history is a part of the credi score equation.

I also have the Barclay Aviator red which really overlaps the benefits of the Citi AA Plat card, and like the original OP I chose to keep Barclay open due to larger credit line.

This year when AA had a 60k signup bonus for the Citi AA Platinum I got another signup bonus as it had been over the 48 months window that made me eliable for a new offer, I still have the mileup card open.

The Citi cards offer virtual credit card numbers. That's the only benefit I care about.